This invention relates in general to cattle stalls, e.g., milking parlors, and is more particularly directed to a curb for the cow stand of a herringbone or diagonal milking parlor. The invention is more particularly concerned with an improved wave curb that defines recesses between cow positions so that the milking operator can approach the cows from the side in a diagonal or herringbone parlor. The invention is further concerned with an improved method and machine for forming the wave curb.
A milking parlor generally consists of an array of individual stalls, each being designed to hold a single cow as she is being milked. The cows are walked into the parlor through an entry gate, and then each cow is directed to her respective stall. There an attendant washes her udders, attaches a milking unit, monitors and attends to the milking operation, disconnects the milking unit, and releases the cows so another group of cows can be milked. In parlors of this type, the cows typically proceed in single file through the entry gate into the parlor, and can exit, either in the same fashion through an exit gate at the far end, or in gang fashion out the side of the parlor.
There are various schemes for milking parlors, including herringbone, diagonal, and parallel or side-by-side. A parallel milking parlor operation is described in earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,230,299 and 5,285,746. A diagonal style milking parlor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,768, granted Jun. 17, 1997, which relates to a relatively new design in milking parlors. The diagonal parlor is a hybrid of the parallel and herringbone configurations. These parlors place the cows at an angle of 50 to 70 degrees relative to the curb line. In a conventional herringbone parlor, the cow is at 30 degrees to no more than 45 degrees to the curb line, with a spacing of between 36 inches and 44 inches between cows along the curb line. By contrast, the parallel or side-by-side parlor places the cows at 90 degrees, and at a spacing of 27 inches to 29 inches along the curb line, but requires the cows to be milked between their hind legs. In the hybrid diagonal design, the cows are placed at a typical angle of 50 to 60 degrees, with a spacing between cows of 30 inches. It is possible to achieve a steeper angle of 70 degrees and a spacing of only 27 inches along the curb. Another example of a diagonal parlor design is the ParaBone.RTM. parlor, sold by Germania Dairy Automation, Inc.
Sequencing gates, which are required in parallel or side-by-side parlors, can be omitted in the diagonal parlor.
In either case, the cows are to be backed up to a curb at the back or operator side of the cow stand. The operator then approaches each of the cows in turn, washes and disinfects her udders, and attaches the associated milking machine. As aforementioned, the operator has access to the cows' udders from the side, and just ahead of their rear legs. On the other hand, the cows are angled away from the operator, so it would be advantageous to provide some means at the curb line between cow positions for improved access. Ideally, this can be accomplished by using curbing that is wavy or scalloped, rather than the straight or linear curbing now in common use.
There have been several attempts to construct wave curb for milking parlors. Typically this has involved bending a straight length of sheet steel into a series of curves or bights, and then embedding this into the concrete material of the cow stand when constructing it. After installing it, a bead of metal or other material is attached onto the top edge. Unfortunately, because the bent metal strip is not very rigid, it is difficult to handle and install. The strip tends to flex when being handled, and so it does not keep an exact shape or dimension. In addition, no machine or apparatus has been available for forming the waves or bights in the metal, and these are usually formed by bending the strip around a drum type form, then flipping the sheet over and bending it in the other direction on the form. This is repeated until the strip is a series of alternate curves. This is clearly a very slow and labor intensive process, and the wave curb strip that it yields is not uniform or consistent from one to the next.
In addition, because the beads are attached afterwards, and not formed unitarily with the metal curbing, there is a tendency for them to detach over time from the curb.